Thompson said her No. 1 goal is to have an impact on the Shriners kids.
Lexi Thompson got word from her manager last Sunday in Arkansas that she’d been extended a sponsor’s invitation to next week’s Shriners Children’s Open. Thompson will be the seventh woman to compete in a PGA Tour event.
The 28-year-old, who is teeing up in this week’s Ascendant LPGA benefitting Volunteers of America event in Texas, said it’s the first time she’s been offered a spot in a PGA Tour field.
“I mean, growing up with two older brothers and around their friends I’ve always grown up playing alongside the guys I guess,” she said.
“Can’t say it’s been like a dream of mine to play on the PGA Tour. Of course, I’ve wanted to. I learned so much playing alongside the guys and am very inspired by them, so it’ll be a great opportunity for me.”
Lexi Thompson talks with her caddie and brother, Nicholas Thompson, during the pro-am prior to the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club on November 16, 2022 in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
The event will be played Oct. 12-15 at TPC Summerlin, which last year played 7,255 yards with a par of 71. The field of 132 will compete for a purse of $8.4 million.
Thompson, whose two brothers have held PGA Tour cards, said she’s trying to get as much information as she can about TPC Summerlin and planned to reach out to Las Vegas resident Danielle Kang for some tips.
The invitation, she said, caught her by surprise, and she had to rearrange the plans she had for next weekend but couldn’t pass up what she called a “once-in-a-career opportunity.”
When asked about her expectations for the week, Thompson said she only hoped to embrace it all.
“Like I said, leaving a bigger impact and interacting with those kids, that’s my number one,” she said.
“Of course, I want to play good golf. I know my game and how I’m playing right now and how much work I’ve been putting in, so playing within myself and my game is all I can do. Not try to force anything on a longer golf course.”
Brittany Lincicome was the last woman to compete in a PGA Tour event five years ago. Babe Zaharias was the first to do it in 1935 at the Cascades Open. In 1945, Zaharias made the 36-hole cut at what’s now the Genesis Invitational in 1945. She remains the only woman to make the cut in a PGA Tour event.
In his first year as a member of the PGA Tour policy board Peter Malnati has proved a champion of the everyman, coming clean on the average player’s reaction to the PGA Tour’s framework agreement with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.
On Tuesday, in advance of this week’s Sanderson Farms Championship, Malnati was asked about the news that LPGA star Lexi Thompson was given an exemption into the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas. The event will be played Oct. 12-15 at TPC Summerlin, which last year played 7,255 yards with a par of 71. The field of 132 will compete for a purse of $8.4 million.
The 36-year-old Indiana native admitted he thought the exemption might have been a stretch.
“I just got a text this morning, so I don’t know much about it,” Malnati said. “Obviously I know that Lexi at times has been one of the top players on the LPGA Tour, and she’s obviously very athletic. Distance won’t be a problem. She’ll hit it far enough.
“My gut reaction when I saw that was like the tournament reaching to try to get — just trying to drum up interest. I think I understand that, if that is the case.”
Peter Malnati plays his shot from the third tee during the third round of the Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament. (Photo: Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports)
Malnati started to step in hot water but caught himself quickly with his next statement.
“I don’t think we’re going to need to resort to gimmicks to drum up interest. I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t know that having Lexi play is a gimmick, but I don’t think the tournaments are going to have to go to those kind of lengths to drum up interest and get storylines that they can sell because I think these events are actually going to have a lot of meaning,” he said. “Like I said, change is hard for everyone at every level, so I assume if you’re a host organization of a tournament, if you’re the Century Club here in Jackson, if you’re Wayne Sanderson Farms, you just don’t know right now for sure what you have anymore because the fall is completely reimagined.
“I’m pretty sure that the fall is going to be a blockbuster hit. I think it’s going to be very successful. But these tournaments, they don’t know yet.”
A full-time LPGA member in 2014, Thompson has racked up 15 professional wins including a major — the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship.
“Having Lexi play certainly will get a lot of headlines, and if that’s the goal for Shriners and the host organization in Vegas there, that’s great. Obviously, she’s a professional athlete. She’s accomplished a lot,” Malnati said. “It’s not like — I mean, who knows what’ll happen. She may go play really well and it’ll be huge. She may play absolutely terrible and finish 132nd.
“Either way, she’s a professional golfer. She has a spot in the field. The tournament is — if it gets them the attention that they want and it works out positively for them, it’s great, all for it.”
Malnati is one of seven past champions in the field at The Country Club of Jackson and is making his ninth straight start in the event. He won the tournament in 2015 and added a second-place showing in 2020, making him the only player to have a victory and a runner-up showing since it moved to its current location in 2015.
For years Thompson has seemed like a prime candidate to land a PGA Tour sponsor exemption.
It’s not entirely surprising that Lexi Thompson is the player who will become the seventh woman to compete in a PGA Tour event. She played alongside the men in the QBE Shootout for six years and has two brothers who have held PGA Tour cards. One of the most powerful women in the game, for years Thompson has seemed like a prime candidate to land a PGA Tour sponsor exemption.
That time has come for Thompson, who will tee it up on a sponsor invite at next week’s Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas, Golfweek has learned. The event will be played Oct. 12-15 at TPC Summerlin, which last year played 7,255 yards with a par of 71. The field of 132 will compete for a purse of $8.4 million.
That Thompson chose to seize the opportunity this season, however, may raise some eyebrows. But the good news is that her game is trending after a 3-1-0 Solheim Cup performance and her best finish of the season – a share of eighth – at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. It marked her first top-10 finish since November 2022.
“I’m hopeful that my ability to play with the men next week at the Shriners Children’s Open sends a great message to the young women that you can chase your dream regardless of how hard it is,” Thompson said in a statement. “I cannot wait to come to the city of Las Vegas, and I’m grateful to Shriners Children’s for this opportunity to spend the week alongside these inspirational kids.”
Lexi Thompson and Maverick McNealy of the United States fist pump on the seventeenth green during round one of the QBE Shootout at Tiburon Golf Club on December 09, 2022, in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)
An 11-time winner on the LPGA, the 28-year-old Thompson has grown up on big stages since she first qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open at age 12.
Thompson missed five cuts in a row over the summer and looked like a liability for Team USA when she made the 12-player squad based on her Rolex Ranking. But she undoubtedly found something in the month of September, and it was enough for captain Stacy Lewis to ask Thompson to hit the first tee shot in Spain and anchor her singles lineup on Sunday.
“We are thrilled to welcome Lexi to the 2023 tournament,” said Patrick Lindsey, Executive Director of Shriners Children’s Open. “Shriners Children’s mission is to help all children live their best life regardless of what medical challenges lay in front of them. We are eager to have Lexi on the course and continue to break through barriers, just as our more than 1.5 million patients do every day.”
The history of women competing in official PGA Tour events is short but fascinating. The great Babe Zaharias, the original LPGA needle-mover who was named “Woman Athlete of the 20th Century” by the Associated Press, remains the only female to make a cut in a PGA Tour event, doing so at the 1945 Los Angeles Open.
Annika Sorenstam credits her triumphant but controversial Bank of America Colonial appearance in 2003 as the event that took her game and her drive to another level. Sorenstam missed the cut by four strokes, but that week also took her status in the sports world to a new sphere.
“I left with so much confidence and obviously I took my game to a different level,” Sorenstam told Golf Channel earlier this year. “I worked so much harder and pushed myself. Being under the microscope and playing against the men, it tested every little bone in my body. I told myself if I could handle this pressure, I can handle any pressure. … It was a different me.”
Michelle Wie West came astoundingly close to making the cut at age 14 when she came within a stroke at the 2004 Sony Open after a second-round 68. She’d tee it up seven more times against the men but never made the weekend.
Brittany Lincicome is congratulated by Conrad Shindler after holing out for eagle in the 17th fairway during a continuation of the second round of the Barbasol Championship at Keene Trace Golf Club on July 21, 2018, in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Brittany Lincicome is the most recent woman to receive a PGA Tour sponsor exemption at the 2018 Barbasol Championship. The two-time major winner had a string of three consecutive birdies in the second round as well as a hole-out for eagle on the 17th, but it wasn’t enough to make the cut in soft conditions.
“Just being inside the ropes with the guys, hitting on the range, on the putting green, it’s just a cool feeling,” said Lincicome after her second-round 71. “I feel like I’m at home here. The guys just made me feel so comfortable.”
“I’m playing on the PGA Tour as a 20-year-old. It’s hard to get tired from this.”
“Conversations with Champions presented by Sentry” is a weekly series from Golfweek. This week: Tom Kim, winner of the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open.
He’s just the second golfer to win twice on the PGA Tour before turning 21.
Tiger Woods was 20 years, nine months and 21 days when he earned his second win. Tom Kim has done him one better, winning a second time at the age of 20 years, three months and 18 days after claiming the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas.
Kim also became just the third winner on Tour — Lee Trevino in 1974, J.T. Poston in 2019 — to play 72 holes of stroke play and not record a bogey.
“I played really solid this week,” Kim said, making perhaps the understatement of the Tour season so far. “I think I got to give big credits to Joe [Skovron], my caddie. He really kept me in it. We had a really good game plan coming into the week, and it paid off.”
Sometimes you need a little luck to win as well and, this was Vegas after all and Patrick Cantlay, who played great all week, stumbled home with a triple-bogey 7 on the 18th hole.
“I got very lucky on the 18th. I’m not going to lie, Patrick played awesome, and it was an honor to battle with him, and to come out on top, I feel very fortunate.”
Here’s the rest of what Kim said after his win.
Q: Are you surprised how quickly you’ve found success out here on the PGA Tour?
Yes and no. I’ve worked really hard, and my team has worked really hard to this point, and I’m just really grateful and I’m fortunate to have an opportunity like this. I’m having fun playing on the PGA Tour. It’s awesome.
Q: You’re the first player since Tiger Woods in 1996 to win twice on the PGA Tour before turning 21. What comes to your mind when you hear those words?
It’s really amazing. A few months ago, I didn’t have any status in the U.S., and now being a two-time winner on Tour, having that place with Tiger, it’s an unbelievable feeling for me. It’s an honor for me, and it’s definitely a dream come true.
Q: What’s the last few months been like for you? Could you just describe the last few months?
It’s been crazy. It’s been really fast. Definitely doesn’t feel slow, that’s for sure. Coming off a win, Playoffs, the Presidents Cup, and a win this week is, I mean, it’s absolutely amazing. I’ve just got to keep going, and I’m enjoying the ride, so hopefully many more to come.
Q: What did it mean to you to have Sungjae [Im], S.H. [Kim] and K.H. Lee out there to see you?
It’s amazing. You know, they’re my big brothers, and for them to wait on the 18th green for me, I’m really grateful for that. It’s special for me for them to be there.
Q: Can you explain how, since you had never played this course before Thursday morning, how you play 72 holes without making a bogey?
It’s amazing. With the way I started the week, I had a really bad cough, and because of the way my body felt, I had to play nine holes and nine holes. But I felt like playing nine holes, nine holes with limited time, I had to really get my work in, and I felt like the course really suited me well. It came to my eye, and I felt like if I just strategized my course around it here, around the course here, I could have a good week, and that’s exactly what I did.
Tom Kim and his caddie Joe Skovron stand on the 18th green during the final round of the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas. (Photo: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
Q: It was basically match play between you and Patrick at some point. Did you feel that way, that at some point it was down to the two of you?
I just had to really focus on my own game, and I feel like the experience from the Presidents Cup, like you said, it could have been match play, but I didn’t really think of it that way because really, on this golf course, there’s a lot of low scores, and anyone who plays well will have a chance. Someone just shot 9 under I think last year to win and come back and win by a lot. I just told myself, stick with the game plan. Whether I win or not, as long as I execute my shots and do what I need to do, that’s all I focused on, and I’m just grateful to be on top.
Q: You had talked earlier in the week how you feel like your life hasn’t changed. Everyone else is telling you you’re this rock star and superstar, but you feel like you’re the same person.
Of course, 100 percent.
Q: Does this change with this second win?
No, it hasn’t, absolutely not. I’ve still got a long way to go, and I want to hopefully have a long career on the PGA Tour. I’ve got a lot of work to do. There’s a lot of guys that I still need to get better at golf, and there’s a lot of guys out here who have a lot more success than me, so I’ve got to learn and I’ve got to keep playing better.
Q: Twice on that back nine you set up a two-shot lead and twice he came back at you and tied it up. Just talk about the pressure that that was putting you under and the feelings you had going through that back nine.
When you have a two-shot lead and you have a guy like Patrick coming at you, no lead is safe. I just told myself, well, we have a game plan. I was really grateful that Joe was beside me with the experience he has, and he really helped me through this week. I just stayed really patient. I played my game plan, and I just got really lucky on the final hole. Patrick has played so good this week, and I got really fortunate.
Q: If you could take us through your thoughts when you saw his ball head towards the desert there.
Like I said, I played my own game plan, whether he made birdie or not. I had to hit good shots, and I just, like I said, I have a game plan, and we stuck to it. I was just hoping I could execute myself.
Tom Kim looks on a Patrick Cantlay prepares to play his shot from the desert on the 18th hole during the final round of the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas. (Photo: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
Q: I’m not sure you know, but Tiger’s first win was in Vegas, and he made the comment, I think it was the seventh or eighth tournament, he was surprised it took so long. What was your mindset coming on to the PGA Tour and your expectations?
My expectation was just to be out here and just hopefully I can win. But I’m not going to lie; I’ve been very fortunate, and I’m just, yeah, I’m really fortunate, and hopefully, I have a lot more in the bag.
Q: How will you stay motivated with all this success? What will you do to keep winning just like Tiger did?
I’ve got lots of work to do on my game. I’m not going to lie. There’s some weaknesses that I need to get better at, and I need to keep the strengths that I have. Hopefully I can have a long career, and I’ve got to work really hard. I can’t get satisfied at all. I’ve just got to keep playing better because there’s a lot of guys who work really hard and who have achieved a lot more than me. I’m not even close to Tiger. Whether it’s Tiger, Rory, Justin, Jordan, those guys, I’ve still got a long way to go, so I just need to keep working hard.
Q: What did your Korean big brothers say to you on the green there?
They were just saying, congratulations, you did a really good job, and it’s amazing. For them to just, with the busy schedules that everyone has, for them to stay there for me, I’m really grateful for that.
Q: Have you now gone to expecting to win, and now has your role kind of changed from hoping to expecting?
No, golf on the PGA Tour is really hard. It’s really hard to win tournaments. I think everything in life, you can’t expect everything. I’ve just got to keep working hard on my game, and just being,I’m very fortunate to win twice on Tour and to be even out here. I think the mindset is for me I’ve just got to keep working hard and be grateful for what things come along.
Tom Kim poses with the trophy after winning the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas. (Photo: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
Q: You’re 20, but is it a little tiring winning Wyndham, playing in the FedEx Cup, Presidents Cup, here? I think you might be jumping on a flight tonight. Are you tired, or is it just because you’re 20 that you’re good?
I’m playing on the PGA Tour as a 20-year-old. It’s hard to get tired from this. I’m a five-year-old at Disneyland for sure. That’s the way I would pronounce it.
Q: People are already talking about you as a FedEx Cup winner, major winner. What is it you’ll set your sights on?
I think goals really stay within the team, but it would be amazing to do those things. Like I said, I’ve still got a long way to go. I’m 20 years old. I’ve still got a lot to learn from these guys. I’ve just got to keep working on my game, and hopefully there’s a lot of good things along the way. But I’ve just got to keep working hard, keep my head down and keep working.
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The 20-year-old South Korean won for the second time in his last four starts Sunday after claiming the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas. Kim, who went bogey-free for the week, took home the top prize of $1,440,000 with his three-shot victory at 24 under over 2017 champion Patrick Cantlay and Matthew NeSmith, who each earned $712,000 for their efforts.
Check out how much money each PGA Tour player earned this week at the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open.
The win is Kim’s second on the PGA Tour and second in his last four starts.
At the conclusion of the Presidents Cup two weeks ago, International Team Captain Trevor Immelman sang the praises of South Korean golfer Tom Kim and proclaimed that a star was born.
Kim is more than living up to the hype after shooting a final-round 5-under 66 at TPC Summerlin on Sunday to win the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas.
At 20 years, 3 months and 18 days old, Kim became the second youngest player to win twice on the PGA Tour since Ralph Guldahl in 1932. He’s also the first player since Tiger Woods in 1996 to win twice before turning 21. If that wasn’t impressive enough, Kim became just the second winner on Tour since Lee Trevino in 1974 to play 72 holes without recording a bogey (J.T. Poston did so at the 2019 Wyndham Championship).
Kim, who won the Wyndham Championship in August, battled Patrick Cantlay to a standstill until the latter made a triple-bogey on the final hole to gift-wrap a three-stroke victory. It marked Kim’s second win in his last four PGA Tour starts, posting a 72-hole total of 24-under 260.
“I got very lucky on the 18th. I’m not going to lie, Patrick played awesome, and it was an honor to battle with him, and to come out on top, I feel very fortunate,” Kim said.
It’s all the more remarkable considering his rapid rise. A year ago, Kim was in Las Vegas the week of the Shriners tournament. “I remember I wanted to play,” he said. A week later, he made his Tour debut at the CJ Cup thanks to a sponsor exemption. He didn’t play again on Tour until May, but since then earned special temporary status, secured his card for the coming season, notched a win, qualified for the FedEx Cup, made his presence felt in the Presidents Cup and improved to No. 15 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
“I’m playing on the PGA Tour as a 20-year old. It’s hard to get tired from this,” he said. “I’m a five-year-old at Disneyland for sure.”
He and Cantlay shared the lead going into the final round after Cantlay matched his career low score on Saturday with a 60. Kim was none too shabby on Moving Day either, playing his last 11 holes in 8 under of the third round en route to shooting 62.
Validating his first win wouldn’t come easy. Since 2017, Cantlay being in contention at the Shriners Children’s Open has been one of the safest bets on the Vegas Strip. In the final round, Kim drained a 30-foot birdie putt at No. 8 to build a two-stroke lead. But Cantlay, who won in Vegas in 2017 and settled for his third runner-up finish in this event, wouldn’t go down without a fight.
“No lead is safe around here because you can go so low and make so many birdies,” said Cantlay, who was seeking his third win of the year and ninth Tour title.
Cantlay did just that rolling in birdies at Nos. 11 and 12 to tie Kim at 22 under. But Kim answered with birdies at 13 and 14, the latter of which he walked in from 13 feet. That just meant Cantlay needed to keep going low and he recorded back-to-back birdies at Nos. 15 and 16 to erase his deficit again. Both players made par at 17. Cantlay, who led the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee for the week, picked the worst possible time to hook a 3-wood off the 18th tee and into a desert bush. He tried to blast out sideways from a ravine back to the fairway but failed to advance his ball and elected to take a penalty from an unplayable lie.
“I thought if I could get it back in the fairway, I’d have a chance, and I figured it was worth the risk because I didn’t think I’d have too much of a chance of getting it up-and-down from the brush there,” Cantlay explained. “Obviously the last hole makes the whole week kind of sour.”
Cantlay’s next shot splashed into the pond fronting the green. He made triple bogey and closed in 69 to tie with Matthew NeSmith (66), who set a career-best in 88 Tour starts.
Kim made the requisite par he needed at 18 and continues to live up to high praise he’s received, including from his caddie. Joe Skovron knows a thing or two about working for a player with high expectations. He spent 13 years alongside Rickie Fowler until parting ways in August and joining Kim at the Presidents Cup two weeks ago.
“He has that ‘it’ factor that he wants the moment, he wants the big putt. He wants that, and he can respond to it,” Skovron said after Kim’s Presidents Cup performance. “I think the sky’s the limit for him.”
Everything you need to know for the final round in Las Vegas.
It’s time for the final 18 in Sin City.
TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas, ranked No. 4 last year on Golfweek’s Best list of private courses in Nevada, plays host to the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open this week, and will play to 7,255 yards with a par of 71. It’s the third PGA Tour event of the 2022-23 season.
Patrick Cantlay and Tom Kim apparently want to continue the Presidents Cup on the other side of the country. They’re tied for the lead and three shots clear of the chasers heading to the final round. Cantlay shot 60 in the third round and barely missed his putt for 59, but Kim himself shot 62.
From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s what you need to know for the final round of the Shriners Children’s Open. All times Eastern.
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Here’s what we learned from the third round in Las Vegas.
If Saturday was any indication, Sunday is going to be a heckuva finale in Las Vegas.
Moving day lived up to its mantra on Saturday at TPC Summerlin in the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open. There was a course record-tying round. There were numerous birdies and hardly any bogeys. Past champions are in the mix, and a young star is looking for yet another statement early in his career.
There’s plenty of golf left to be played, and with how many birdies and scoring chances there are in Vegas, there’s no telling who can come out on top Sunday evening. Yet the pair at the top could be a thrilling show themselves.
Here’s what you missed on moving day from Sin City.
